'The Office' scoop: Rainn Wilson spin-off?

Will there really be an Office spin-off starring Rainn Wilson following Dwight Schrute as a beet farmer? And will The Office get a ninth season?

The Office cast discussed the headlines — and an upcoming road trip — on the red carpet for the SAG Awards Sunday.

Wilson confirmed that a spin-off was definitely being discussed. “We’re talking about a Dwight Schrute spin-off that could be really cool,” he said. “[The show] would have a crazy menagerie of characters… It would be even more far-out and weird than The Office.” Yet Office costar and co-executive producer B.J. Novak preferred to hedge his bets and downplayed the concept. “That’s just an idea right now,” he told EW.com. “It’s just an idea. We will see more of Dwight’s farm later this season in a regular episode… but that won’t necessarily become a series.”

Though it might seem counterintuitive, the spin-off idea makes it more likely that The Office will get a ninth season. The original show would be needed to help launch and promote the new series.

“I don’t believe it’s the last season of The Office,” Novak told EW. “I think there are more stories to tell and to wrap up before we go, but I haven’t gotten the word.”

Plus, The Office remains NBC’s highest-rated scripted series, and the network’s whole Thursday comedy block is built around it. Shows get significantly more expensive as they age, but right now NBC can’t afford to lose the comedy.

The actors also teased how there is a multiepisode story line coming up where the cast goes on a road trip to Florida — with Dwight in charge.

“They are supposed to be opening a chain of stores where they are going to sell their own tablet computer that is in the shape of a triangle and it’s called ‘the Pyramid,'” Novak said. “It’s like a cheap iPad shaped like a triangle. It’s really the worst piece of technology that you’ve ever seen.” — Reporting by Carrie Borzillo